Bram Bosteels' Kaboom Karavan project reappears out of the thick Belgian jungle to deliver what must be one of the strangest and most exotic records since Gultskra Artikler's uncategorizable Kasha iz Topora. After the already quite surreal Barra Barra (MIA 015CD/LP) album on Miasmah from 2011, Bram takes his sound further into unknown yet still strangely familiar territories. Listening to Hokus Fokus feels like staring frozenly into a postcard sent from your long-lost uncle that went missing in the Amazon after an expedition gone wrong (circa year 1935). Merge this image with the decaying sounds of an old Tom Waits record slowly tuning out in the background and you're getting close. This is not instantly gratifiable music, but rather, a thick fog of details, sounds and atmospheres blended together with utmost precision and skill to create something quite unique that really shines with repeated listening and full immersion. Coming from a background as a notorious piano husk experimenter, film, theater, and dance composer, as well as regular Kreng collaborator, Bram has set off to confuse and wonder us with this selection of highly amazing Kaboom Karavan alternate-universe pieces fittingly entitled Hokus Fokus. For fans of '50s exotica records, Jeff Beal's score for Carnivalé (the TV show) and Andy Votel/Demdike Stare-curated Pre-Cert entertainment (with artists such as Anworth Kirk and Slant Azymuth).

LP version with download code. Bram Bosteels' Kaboom Karavan project reappears out of the thick Belgian jungle to deliver what must be one of the strangest and most exotic records since Gultskra Artikler's uncategorizable Kasha iz Topora. After the already quite surreal Barra Barra (MIA 015CD/LP) album on Miasmah from 2011, Bram takes his sound further into unknown yet still strangely familiar territories. Listening to Hokus Fokus feels like staring frozenly into a postcard sent from your long-lost uncle that went missing in the Amazon after an expedition gone wrong (circa year 1935). Merge this image with the decaying sounds of an old Tom Waits record slowly tuning out in the background and you're getting close. This is not instantly gratifiable music, but rather, a thick fog of details, sounds and atmospheres blended together with utmost precision and skill to create something quite unique that really shines with repeated listening and full immersion. Coming from a background as a notorious piano husk experimenter, film, theater, and dance composer, as well as regular Kreng collaborator, Bram has set off to confuse and wonder us with this selection of highly amazing Kaboom Karavan alternate-universe pieces fittingly entitled Hokus Fokus. For fans of '50s exotica records, Jeff Beal's score for Carnivalé (the TV show) and Andy Votel/Demdike Stare-curated Pre-Cert entertainment (with artists such as Anworth Kirk and Slant Azymuth).

Short Walk With Olaf is Kaboom Karavan's debut album from 2007 that appeared as a freely downloadable album on the Mexican-based imprint Umor Rex, creating a cult following in the MP3 label scene at the time. Finally now properly mastered and given a well-deserved vinyl release. Mixing influences from the electronica and ambient scene with Americana, free-folk and avant-garde jazz, to name but a few, Short Walk With Olaf is first of all an incredibly beautiful and mystical piece of work that should fall in taste with everyone interested in film music, travels, small villages & deserted places. Olaf finds his place somewhere between the atmosphere of Jim Jarmusch films, Lounge Lizards and Volcano The Bear and is a great starting point for getting into the strange sound world of Kaboom Karavan. Includes a free mp3 download of the album.

This is the debut full-length release on Miasmah from Kaboom Karavan -- the Belgian collective led by Bram Bosteels. Kaboom Karavan has a history in theater, film and contemporary dance, but that doesn't really help shine a light on their music. They have collaborated with musicians all over the world including Miasmah's very own Kreng, and released a debut album on Mexico's Umor Rex imprint, but again, this probably only gives a small indicator of what the collective actually sound like. There is something effortlessly surreal about the band, and surrealism is an aspect of art often attempted and very rarely perfected. Here, Bosteels abuses his choice of instruments (and players) to the point where the listener would barely be able to place which instruments were being used at all, in fact at times you'd be hard pressed even to place what sort of music it was. Through a haze of pizzicato strings, clouds of sullen reverberation and clamorous percussion, you get the feeling that you have been catapulted into a universe just outside of perception. Jazz and Dadaism might be the cornerstones of Barra Barra but these disparate influences are twisted and melted beyond recognition, leaving only remnants on the finished product. Barra Barra is a complex album which takes patience to navigate through; you could hear the German clanking pre-industrialism of Einstürzende Neubauten, the slow, brooding doom of Bohren & Der Club Of Gore and the stuttering abstraction of Black To Comm, yet it still feels fresh and distinctly current. Unusually, the most fitting comparison might be the work of The Brothers Quay, as the ticking, creaking, stuttering songs feel perfectly matched with these flickering, haunted images. This is what makes the album such an appropriate addition to the Miasmah canon, and one that will haunt your dreams (and nightmares) for months to come.

LP version. This is the debut full-length release on Miasmah from Kaboom Karavan -- the Belgian collective led by Bram Bosteels. Kaboom Karavan has a history in theater, film and contemporary dance, but that doesn't really help shine a light on their music. They have collaborated with musicians all over the world including Miasmah's very own Kreng, and released a debut album on Mexico's Umor Rex imprint, but again, this probably only gives a small indicator of what the collective actually sound like. There is something effortlessly surreal about the band, and surrealism is an aspect of art often attempted and very rarely perfected. Here, Bosteels abuses his choice of instruments (and players) to the point where the listener would barely be able to place which instruments were being used at all, in fact at times you'd be hard pressed even to place what sort of music it was. Through a haze of pizzicato strings, clouds of sullen reverberation and clamorous percussion, you get the feeling that you have been catapulted into a universe just outside of perception. Jazz and Dadaism might be the cornerstones of Barra Barra but these disparate influences are twisted and melted beyond recognition, leaving only remnants on the finished product. Barra Barra is a complex album which takes patience to navigate through; you could hear the German clanking pre-industrialism of Einstürzende Neubauten, the slow, brooding doom of Bohren & Der Club Of Gore and the stuttering abstraction of Black To Comm, yet it still feels fresh and distinctly current. Unusually, the most fitting comparison might be the work of The Brothers Quay, as the ticking, creaking, stuttering songs feel perfectly matched with these flickering, haunted images. This is what makes the album such an appropriate addition to the Miasmah canon, and one that will haunt your dreams (and nightmares) for months to come. Includes a free mp3 download coupon.